It is common practice to prepare meats and vegetables by frying, stir-frying or marinating the vegetable or meat with a flavored oil to impart a desirable flavor. Although the flavored oils are a convenient means to flavor foods, the flavor imparted by the oils is generally thought to be inferior to that of the fresh flavor. A convenient way to boost the flavor level imparted to food products is to increase the level of oleoresins, oil essences and spices added to the oil. Unfortunately, when high concentrations of flavorants are used, the aroma exhibited by the oils rapidly fills the surrounding air.
One of the problems when cooking with flavored oils is that the oils are often heated prior to or during cooking. Often the release of the aroma is accentuated by exposure to high temperatures. The characteristic aroma of some flavorants, in particular garlic and onion, are liked by some and disliked by others. Moreover, when released in high concentrations, the reaction by consumers who generally like the aroma vary considerably. The wide range of tolerances or preferences for the aroma generated by flavored oils makes it difficult to include in the oil a level of flavorant needed to impart the desirable level of flavor to the food which is being cooked while not overwhelming the area with the aroma.
Another problem with increasing the level of flavorant added to the oil while trying to reduce the aroma, is the problem of generating off-flavors. In some cases, the combination of high concentrations of flavorant and high levels of ingredients to suppress the aroma, produce an off flavor which generally has a lingering aftertaste.
Attempts have been made to reduce the level of aroma produced by the oil while imparting desirable flavor to the food product. Common methods for reducing the level of undesirable odors include deodorizing, heating, boiling, rotary steam stripping, dehydrating or chemically treating the flavorant prior to adding it to the oil. None of these approaches are satisfactory however, because they are time consuming, and often require many steps, special equipment or use undesirable chemicals. Moreover, while these methods work well for some oils, application of these methods to flavored oils would tend to reduce the flavors added to the oil, thus eliminating or greatly reducing the flavor benefit. Another method includes removing the aroma completely, see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,914 to Kimizuka et al. issued May 3, 18, 1988 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,660 to Morinaga issued Mar. 22, 1983. However, the problem in removing the aroma totally is that taste perception is often influenced by aroma. Therefore a need exists for a flavored oil which incorporates levels of flavorant which deliver deskable flavor characteristics to food but which do not exhibit overpowering or undesirable levels of aroma when used for cooking.
Surprisingly, it has been found that the aroma exhibited by flavored oils containing increased levels of flavorant, can be reduced by incorporating specific levels of polyoxyethylene sorbitan monoesters, known food emulsifiers, into the flavored oil.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a flavored oil composition exhibiting reduced aroma when heated.
Another object of this invention is to produce a flavored oil which will deliver a desirable level of flavor to the end product.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an easily prepared flavored oil exhibiting reduced aroma when heated.
These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.